TG wrote:

> I'd not be baking if it were.

You are and it is - bacterial growth - exponential. One can calculate
that if so inclined.

> lol. But Jeez talk about
> making things complicated.

Not my intention - he was thinking and insisting it's quadratic, so I
played with it.

> You don't really need any algebra,

To proof in words that it's not quadratic would be cumbersome, that was
the objective. So, for this purpose, it was the adequate tool. Normally,
one doesn't need algebra for dough calculations.

> though I
> can see it will help you arrive at the solution if you have no
> experience of the formula.

[see below]

> 500g total loaf
[...]
>
> I don't know about you but I think this is much easier.

Nope - you sure don't know about me;-)

I use my SdCalcs on my web site because the repetitive calculations
started to suck. Fill in the blanks, hit the calc button, print it out,
add notes as needed, put in folder, have record for later in case it
turns out good. No need to do all the penciling you wrote down.

http://samartha.net/SD/SDcalc04.html
http://samartha.net/cgi-bin/SD-Dtm-3-03.cgi

S